I gather importing armor has a lot more technical difficulties, why is that? Format problems, lack of research, lack of disclosure?

It largely comes down to the fact that armor has to be bound and weighted to character skeletons. Getting anything skeleton- or animation-related into the game -- especially when it has to do with the existing characters -- is a very finicky and involved process. There's also things like how to divide up armor properly and assign shaders with the correct naming scheme, so TL2/Guts knows which armor parts are which; that part is actually pretty easy once you know what to do, but if you don't know how or why to do it it can seem obtuse and unintuitive.

I'm sure it's possible to get armor into the game, of course -- it was possible in TL1 and the process there wouldn't have been much different -- but it's a much bigger ordeal than, say, making a weapon or an environment prop, or changing a skill, or laying out a new level or something. Most other aspects of modding are less trouble to complete than anything involving character skeletons.

I gather importing armor has a lot more technical difficulties, why is that? Format problems, lack of research, lack of disclosure?

It largely comes down to the fact that armor has to be bound and weighted to character skeletons.

Yes... Weapons are just displaced and rotated in game, armor actually has to follow movements of the characters, twist around and even flow like skirts in some chest armors...

Getting anything skeleton- or animation-related into the game -- especially when it has to do with the existing characters -- is a very finicky and involved process. There's also things like how to divide up armor properly and assign shaders with the correct naming scheme, so TL2/Guts knows which armor parts are which; that part is actually pretty easy once you know what to do, but if you don't know how or why to do it it can seem obtuse and unintuitive.

Anything related with making 3D stuff is baseline mindboggling. I know very well, because I have next to no idea, no matter how paradoxical such a statement sounds

I'm sure it's possible to get armor into the game, of course -- it was possible in TL1 and the process there wouldn't have been much different -- but it's a much bigger ordeal than, say, making a weapon or an environment prop, or changing a skill, or laying out a new level or something. Most other aspects of modding are less trouble to complete than anything involving character skeletons.

Yeah, seeing how there IS armor in the game, there must be some way to put more in. Are there yet any clues about what would be the optimal tools for armor export/import? It's relevant to my interests even though I'm still stuck making new weapon models (succeeded with the first model, the second model is giving me all sorts of trouble)

Well, as far as I know there are 3 options: 3Ds Max, Maya, and Blender. Maya is my personal choice and as a 3D program is by far my favorite of the 3, but unfortunately it also is the hardest to accomplish the task at hand (dealing with existing TL skeletons) so I would recommend either of the other two.

- Max is what Runic used. If you use the same version they did (2009, I think?) you can use the plugins they supply with the modding tools. This would probably be the optimal option; however, newer or older versions of Max won't be able to use Runic's plugins and you'll have to rely on existing Ogre exporting tools, which may make things harder.

- Blender is a favorite of the community's, and there are good exporters for TL1 modding that already exist. I'm not totally caught up on what might have been done as far as exporters made specifically for TL2, but you might check to see if one has been made or is being made. Barring that you'll again have to depend on existing Ogre tools (which really is the same problem Maya is caught up in -- Ogre exporters for Maya exist, but nothing that deals with any TL2-specific stuff).

It is actually easier than it seem, but it takes skill and talent. The key is to take an item Runic already has in the game and treat it like clay. You just manipulate it to where you want it, or you cobble pieces together "Join" the meshes, and the place them back where they go.

So far we have put several new items in the game, and they were all made from existing TL2 items that we remodeled. That allowed them to keep all of their weights and their attachments.

Really there is still a lot that goes into the process, and my 16yo is amazing at it (guess it is a generational thing), he does most of the heavy lifting for the Far East's 3d team.

I hope this information helps, I would LOVE to see more armor mods for the game.

It is actually easier than it seem, but it takes skill and talent. The key is to take an item Runic already has in the game and treat it like clay. You just manipulate it to where you want it, or you cobble pieces together "Join" the meshes, and the place them back where they go.

So far we have put several new items in the game, and they were all made from existing TL2 items that we remodeled. That allowed them to keep all of their weights and their attachments.

Yes, that's usually what works best for modding... it's not exactly the cleanest of approaches, but unless you have a technical expertise on par with the original developers, it's the best you can do.

Really there is still a lot that goes into the process, and my 16yo is amazing at it (guess it is a generational thing), he does most of the heavy lifting for the Far East's 3d team.

I'm sure it took a lot of work. Those items look quite nice.

I hope this information helps, I would LOVE to see more armor mods for the game.

I'm beginning to make a Ghibli-themed item mod... I'm still in the earliest phases, so far I've only modeled a spear and a dagger, they're quite simple too. Then I'll try to make more complex weapon models, and after that I'll try making armor models. When I meet my first goals I'll leave the thread in the design sub-forum to this one.

Waaaaah! So beautiful *sniff* the family is modding together! D'X lol I can't wait to see this in the Far East mod XD As an addicted Far Easter I'd like to say thanks to you and you team once again XD (and to your son of course XD).